From January to December 2023, there were 37 million Notice the difference between “guest nights” and “guest”. One guest may have several guest nights. at The numbers refer to hotels, short-term holiday dwellings, camping sites, and youth hostels. in Norway, a 2.5 per cent increase from 2022 when there were 36.1 million guest nights. Norwegian guest nights decreased by 1.5 per cent, while foreign guest nights increased by 13.5 per cent.
2 out of 3 guest nights were at hotels. Accommodations at hotels increased by 6 percent.
– Compared to 2022, the increase was largest in January and February. This is because the first months of 2022 were still affected by the corona pandemic, says senior adviser Kristin Aasestad in Statistics Norway.
Large increase in foreign guest nights at hotels
Foreign guest nights at hotels increased by 22 per cent from 2022 to 2023.
– Compared to 2022, there where an increase in foreign guest nights for each month in 2023. Repeal of corona restrictions and weakened krone are likely reasons why many chose to stay at hotels in Norway in 2023, says Kristin Aasestad.
Record for Norwegian guest nights at hotels
During 2023 there were over 18.6 million Norwegian guest nights at hotels, 204 000 more than in 2022 and the highest number ever recorded by Statistics Norway for Norwegian guest nights in a single year.
There was a large increase in January and February in 2023 compared to the same months in 2022. This was due to corona restrictions in the beginning of 2022. In the remaining months of 2023, there were approximately the same or fewer Norwegian guest nights compared to the corresponding month in 2022.
Increased guest nights in December
There were 1.8 million guest nights at commercial accommodation establishments in December 2023. This was an increase of 85 000 guest nights compared to December 2022. Foreign guest nights contributed to the increase.
– There were an increase of foreign guest nights at all types of accommodation establishments in December 2023 compared to the previous year, says Kristin Aasestad.
Foreign guest nights at hotels and camping sites increased by 21 and 27 per cent respectively. At holiday dwellings there were a 28 per cent increase.
Norwegian guest nights were approximately the same in December in 2022 and in 2023. Guest nights at hotels increased by 0.8 per cent while at camping sites it decreased by 5 per cent.
In accordance with definitions from Eurostat, refugees should be excluded from tourism statistics and not be considered as guests in the context of tourism statistics when they stay at a tourist accommodation establishment. Refugees from Ukraine cannot be assigned by purpose as holiday, occupation or course, conference. It was not possible to extract all refugees guest nights and some stays are included in the statistics. For accommodation establishments that have more than 25 guest nights from Ukraine during the month, the guest nights have been removed from the statistic. Establishments that are exclusively hosting refugees are not included in the statistics.
In January 2024 three existing counties became seven new ones, and now there are 15 counties in Norway. The statistical publication from January 2024 and onward will use the new counties, which were valid from 2024. At the same time, Statistics Norway will cease the publication of "Guest nights so far this year" and the total guest night figures at the municipal level. All today's tables will be closed, and new ones created. During the first half of 2024, historical data back to 2016 will be republished to conform to the new counties. At the same time, Statistics Norway will start publishing annual figures.